Burglar or thief alarm



F. CHESS/ILL.

BURGLAR 0R THIEF ALARM. APPLICATION FILED NOV. I4, i919.

1,372,671 Patented Mar. 29,1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

F. CRESSALL.

BURGLAR 0R THIEF ALARM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. I4, 1919;

Patented Mar. 29, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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' UNITED ST'ATES` PATENTY OFFICE.

BURGLAR oa'rnrnr ALARM.

Specification lof, Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. J29, 1921.

Application led November 14, 1919. Serial No. 337,903.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, FREDERICK CREssALL, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing in Newport, Isle of Wight, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Burglar or Thief Alarms, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to burglar or thief alarms and it has for its object to provide a simple. and efficient alarm designed for use upon doors or other bodies and which shall be operated by the opening or move-k ment of said doors or bodies.

An alarm according to this inventionF while capable of applications such as those above referred to is particularly adapted for use upon motor or other vehicles in order to give an alarm .should any unauthorized person enter or attempt to remove the ve hicle or otherwise tamper therewith.

According to the4 present invention an electric bell, buzzer or other similar device is provided, the circuit of which is closed by means of a nicely balanced body which upon the movement of the body to which it is'applied, for instance the sudden swaying of a vehicle produced by a person entering same, will be displaced and complete an electric circuit in which said bell or'the like is included.

Provision is made for readily restorin the balanced body to the set position, and for preventing its operation when not required. l

The entire device is housed in an inaccessible' casing which is located at any convenient place within the structure of the car. When the alarm is set, access to this would be impossible without warning being given.

The instrument which gives warning is preferably located beneath the car, but within the casing, and in the case -of a horn would have its opening direct to the air.

y In Aorder that the invention may be the better understood drawings are appended in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of one form of device according to this invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan.

Fig. 3 is a section on line A A Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an elevation showing an alternative form of the device.

' Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view show* ing a further alternative.

Fig. 6 is a projective view showing the device within its outer case together with therelay alarm and batteries.

Fig. 7 is a view sho-wing a detail of the relay.

Referring to the accompanying drawings it will be understood that in each case the component members of the alarm will be disposed within a suitable boX or container as indicated by a in Fig. 6 and which boX will be so secured as to prevent, as far as possible, unauthorized access thereto.' The case is placed in some inaccessible position and preferably beneath the car the opening in the case for the escape of the sound being protected by a suitable grid or grating such as indicated by in Fig. 6, and which grid may comprise an uneven surface of such nature that it is difficult or impossible to apply any covering thereto which would prevent the escape of, the noise of the alarm. This may take the form of a surface having a number of downwardly projecting points, forming part of a perforated plate or grid.

In the form of device illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 the device comprises a short cylindrical body a1 closed at the lower end by means of a disk a2 having a peripheral screw thread engaging a corresponding thread in the interior of the cylinder al. The disk a2 is provided with a centrally disposed downwardly extending well a3 adapted to contain glycerin or other more or less viscid liquid.

sting upon the disk just referred to is a second disk a* cupped to receive a circular body or ball a5, the upper periphery of which isprovided with a coned or other shaped depression a6 adapted to support a ball a? of copper or other good electrical conduct-ive metal, in a manner such that the sudden swaying of the vehicle such for eX- ample as results from a person entering it, will vcause such ball to be displaced.

Secured to the underside of the first ball is the upper end of a pendulum rod b, the lower end of which is provided with a weight 1 Fpreferably. provided with radial ns adapted to prevent the too ready swinging of the weight, the purpose of the pendulum being to retain the seat for thesecond ball always horizontal, irrespective of the scribed is a distance piece b2 serving in conjunction with an internal flange If upon the main body of the device to clamp a ring b4, which ring is insulated from said main body.

The ring and support for thependulum form the terminals for the circuit of the bell or other device, the second ball a7, before referred to, when displaced from its seating forms a contact between the insulated ring b4 and the support for the pendulum. Attached to the contact closing ball a7 is one end of a light chain or other flexible body, which body b5 at its upper end is connected to the inner member of a push cable, indicated by @,the outer member of said wire being connected to a sleeve cl slidably mounted in a tubular guide c2 passing through the top of the main body of the device.

The sleeve c1 is bell mouthed at the lower end, and is provided with an internal ring of rubber c3 or other yielding material so that when the push cable isoperated the relative movements of the sleeve and chain cause the ball upon the chain to be drawn against the rubber or other ring when it is clear of its seat in an inoperative position.

Operation of the push cable enables the ball to be settled on its socket by lowering the tube andthe chain, in the iirst place, and withdrawing the tube to give the ball clearance to roll in the second place.

It may be pointed out that should an at-` tempt be made to cut the cable it gives additional facilities for the alarm sounding, thereby rendering it practically impossible to put the apparatus out of action until warning has been given.

Passing trailic, of a heavy nature, would not affect thealarm when it is set, as the vehicle, as a whole, would be vibrated and the ball would merely bounce on its socket.

The conical shape of the ball seating would tend toreturn it to the center at each bounce. /The audible warning would be of such a. peculiar vnature as to be recognizable by passers by and police officers.

If desired, provision may be made whereby the balanced body may be positively operated to insure its closing the electric cur-Y rent.

In the alternativev form of the device illustratedin Fig. 4 instead of the balanced body being in the form of a'ba-ll I employ a body which is arranged so as to be capable of angular displacement inthe horizontal plane which body comprises a spindle d which is disposed upon a line slightly 'in-1v v clined to the vertical plane, and which is i pivotally mounted at its upper and lower ends upon arms or supports d1, d2 forming part of or connected to the vertical member Q53, Clamped or otherwise secured to the spindle d is an arm or rod d4 projecting at a right angle to the line of the spindle and upon which is adjustably mounted a weight (Z5. Secured to the arm d2 but insulated therefrom are contacts such as e one such contact being disposed on each side of the rod d4 in a manner such that the tilting of the car or other body will cause the arm or rod d4 to swing in one lor other direction completing the bell or relay circuit as the case may be. The device is mounted within a chamber which is suspendedv or otherwise freely mounted to move in a second chamber suspended from its upper end, the lower portion being immersed in oil or other lsuitable viscid liquid, the arrangement being such that the outer chamber or case will always occupy a position such that the support for the spindle is always in the vertical plane.

A second body such as that just referred to is employed which is arranged ata right angle to the other and is mounted in or on suitably inclined bearings upon arms or brackets carried by a suitable support, also inclosed in a case, the case for the second body being so supported that it will always occupy a positionA such that the aforesaid support is in a vertical plane. The body may be of U shaped outline in which case lthe horizontal members of the said body place of the ball or pivotally mounted body i' before referred to there is provided a pendulum which comprises a tubular body e open at the lower end where it is provided with a 'weight e. The upper end of the body e is closed and the inner or under surface of the closure is suitably dished at e2 to engage a ball or pivot. Surrounding the pendulum is a cylindrical body e3 closed at the lower end by the disk e4 where it may also be weighted if desired. A centrally disposed upwardly projecting rod or standard e5 is attached to thedisk e4 at 'the bottom of the cylindrical body having at its upper end a point or ball to engage the bearing surface upon the pendulum.

Surrounding the exterior of the pendusurrounding the pendulum and mounted upon a block of vulcanite or the like f2. The Contacts may however be arranged in any other suitable manner. An outer case or receptacle g is provided in which theaforesaid cylindrical body is supported by the hook g1 and eye g2 in a. manner such that it is always free to assume a vertical position irrespective of the inclination of the said case. The outer case is wholly or partly lled with a suitable viscous liquid to damp the movement of the cylindrical body e3. Any other provision may however be made whereby the too rapid movement of the cylindrical body e3 is avoided.

With the circuit arranged in the manner before described it is obvious that an intermittent operation of the horn or other audiblesignal indicated by v in Figs. 5 and 6 will result. In order that a continuous alarm may be secured instead of being coupled directly to the horn or the like the circuitV completed bythe device may include a relay of any suitable type such for example as a polarized relay indicated in Figs. 5 and 6 by y and by means of which when the circuit is closed by the device the relay will complete a local circuit including the horn or the like which will continue to sound until the circuit is broken for which purpose a suitable switch may be provided preferably operated by a key and which switch would be placed in any suitable part of the vehiclenot readily accessible to any person outside the car, the leads or operating rod for the switch being contained in a steel or other tube or casing. The switch if desired may be of such a nature that the alarm may be set to work either intermittently or con-V tinuously or instead of a switch provision may be made such for example as shown in Fig. 7 whereby the relay arm may be held in an inoperative position. In the arrangement shown adisk is provided indicated by a havinga projection .el thereon which when the disk is turned in one direction contacts with the arm of the relay,r and prevents its release when the magnets of the relay are depolarized.

The circuits for the horn c and relay 3,/ are shown in Fig. 6, in which l indicates the compartment of the case containing the battery. From one pole of the battery. a lead 2 passes to one terminal of the horn, while a lead 3 connecting the other terminals of the horn and battery includes the relay y. The relay y is controlled by the circuit includ ing the hand switch 4 and the automatic switch g.

As already explained in order to secure a continuous operation of the alarm a relay or other device is included in the circuit controlled by the pendulum, said' relay being contained within the inaccessiblecase in which the whole device is, inclosed.

The arrangement may be such that either a continuous or intermittent operation of the alarm may be obtained.

Claims- 1. An apparatus comprising a closed receptacle; a closed hollow body suspended from the upper part of said receptacle; an upright standard fixed in the lower part of said body co-axial therewith and provided at its upper end with a pivot ball; a tubular body `disposed over said standard and provided with a closed interiorly dished upper end resting on said ball; an annular weight secured on said tubular body near the lower end thereof; an annular contact member mounted on the lower end of said tubular body; an insulated annular contact body mounted in said hollow body and surrounding and normally out of contact with said contact member; conductors electrically connected to said standard and annular contact body respectively; and a viscous liquid in the lower part of said receptacle for damping the movement of said hollow body when the receptacle on said weight are tilted or moved laterally relatively to the hollow body.

2. An apparatus comprising'a receptacle;

,a closed hollow body suspended in said receptacle; a standard xed in the lower part of said body; a tubular body disposed over said standard and pivotally mounted on said standard; an annular weight secured on said tubular body near the lower end thereof; a contact member mounted on the lower end of said tubular body; an insulated annular contact body mounted in said hollow body and surrounding and normally out of contact with said contact member; conductors electrically connected to said standard and insulated contact body respectively; and a viscous liquid in the lower part of said receptacle for damping the.

movement of said hollow body.

3. An apparatus comprising a receptacle; a hollow body suspended in said receptacle; a weigh't freely 'suspended in said body; a contact member secured to the lower part of said weight; an insulated annular contact body mounted in said hollow body and surrounding and normally out of contact with said contact member; conductors electrically connected to said contact body and member respectively; and a viscous liquid in said receptacle for damping the movement of said hollow body.

4. An apparatus comprising a receptacle; a. supporting body movable in said recepv vtacle; a weight movable in said body; a contact member secured on said weight; a contact body mounted in said hollow body normally out of contact with said contact member and adapted to contact the contact member when the weight and supporting body are relatively moved.; conductors electrically connected to said Contact body and member respectively and a viscous liquid in said tact member mounted on the movablev weight;'a contact body mounted on the movable element and normally out-of contact with said contact member and adapted to engage said member when the weight and element are relatively moved; electric operating means actuated by such engagement; and means permitting slow movement and damping quick relative movement between said movable element and support. 6. An apparatus comprising a movable I element; a weight freely movablyxsupported on said element; operating means actuated by relative movement between the Weight and element; and a viscous liquid in which said element is immersed permitting slow movement and damping quick relative movement of said movable element.

v 7. An apparatus comprising a movable element; a Weight freely movably supported on said element; operating means actuated by relative movement between the Weight and element; and means permitting slow movement and damping quick change of movement of said movable element.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses.

F. -CRESSALL Witnesses:

Y. N. BRAUND, C. PIGoTT. 

